Although he could potentially earn his third successive rainbow jersey in the individual time trial, Olympic medalist Fabian Cancellara has announced that he will skip this week’s world cycling championships in Varese, Italy.

“I lack the force,” the 27-year-old time trial king wrote on the Swiss Cycling Federation’s Web site. “You can’t win races with passion alone.”

Cancellara, who has won the past two world time trial titles, was among the favorites to win the race against the 43.7-kilometer race against the clock on Thursday.

Cancellara won a gold medal in the time trial and bronze in the road race at last month’s Beijing Olympics The month before that, Cancellara played a key role in the Tour de France victory of his CSC-Saxo Bank teammate Carlos Sastre, often setting tempo on the early portions of some of the Tour’s most difficult climbs.

With a win in this week’s time trial, Cancellara would have matched the record of Australian Michael Rogers who won three world time trial titles between 2003 and 2005.